WEBVTT ♪ SOLEDAD: I’M SOLEDAD O’BRIEN. WELCOME TO "MATTER OF FACT." THERE IS AN EPIDEMIC HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN AMERICA THAT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT. NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN AND GIRLS ARE VANISHING. ACCORDING TO THE FBI, LAST YEAR THERE WERE 633 OPEN MISSING PERSONS CASES FOR NATIVE WOMEN. AND NATIVE WOMEN ARE 10 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE MURDERED THAN NON-NATIVE AMERICANS, FOUR TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE RAPED. THOSE STATISTICS HAVE SPARKED COMMUNITY OUTRAGE, BUT VERY LITTLE LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTION. AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT THE FAMILIES OF VICTIMS TELL US. HERE’S "MATTER OF FACT’S" LEONE LAKHANI WITH SOME OF THEIR STORIE LEONE: THE BLACK HILLS POW WOW IN RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, A TIME TO CELEBRATE THE CULTURE AND TRADITION OF THE LAKOTA PEOPLE. ALSO A TIME TO BRING AWARENESS TO A SILENT, BUT DEADLY EPIDEMIC. >> I’VE BEEN HAVING A LOT OF FRIENDS THAT HAVE GONE MISSING AND NEVER FOUND. LEONE: FOR DECADES, INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS HAVE BEEN DISAPPEARING, INCLUDING LARISSA LONE HILL. LISA: THAT WAS ONE OF THE RECENT ONES BEFORE SHE WENT MISSING. LEONE: MORE THAN TWO YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE LISA LONE HILL LAST SAW HER DAUGHTER. LISA: SO MAD. I’M JUST WRITING DOWN MY FEELINGS CAN YOU IMAGE YOUR OWN DAUGHTER BEING MISSING? TRY TO IMAGINE HOW PAINFUL THAT IS. I PRAY FOR STRENGTH TO GO ON, BUT IT’S SO HARD WITHOUT MY GIRL. LEONE: IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW HOW MANY NATIVE WOMEN HAVE -- WOMEN ARE MISSING OR MURDERED BECAUSE SOME CASES GO UNREPORTED. OTHERS AREN’T PROPERLY DOCUMENTED. AND THERE ISN’T A SPECIFIC GOVERNMENT DATABASE TRACKING THE CASES. ♪ >> I USED TO COME OUT HERE AND SIT ALL THE TIME. AND THERE WOULD ALWAYS BE AN EAGLE. LEONE: TWO HOURS AWAY, THE ROSEBUD RESERVATION, ELIZABETH ROUBIDEAUX’S DAUGHTER RYCHINDA WENT MISSING 20 YEARS AGO. ELIZABETH: SHE WANTED TO BE IN THE ARMY AND FLY. LEONE: THE 11-YEAR-OLD’S BODY WAS FOUND IN THE TREES. ELIZABETH: WHAT I WAS TOLD, SHE ONLY HAD UNDERWEAR O IT MAKES ME MAD. [WEEPING] TO KNOW THAT SHE WAS OUT HERE. I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG, BUT -- LEONE: ROUBIDEAUX SAYS LAW ENFORCEMENT DID NOT HELP HER SEARCH FOR HER DAUGHTER. ELIZABETH: I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME. IF THEY WOULD HAVE TAKEN ME SERIOUSLY, WOULD THERE HAVE BEEN A CHANCE OF ME HOLDING HER ONCE AGAIN? LEONE: RYCHINDA’S MURDER REMAINS UNSOLVED. ELIZABETH: ONE THING WE REALLY WANT IS JUSTICE FOR HER. MATT: YOU KNOW OF ANY PLACE THAT MIGHT NEED A DRONE? LEONE: WHEN WE FIRST MET MATTHEW LONE BEAR IN JANUARY OF 2018, HE WAS ORCHESTRATING A SEARCH FOR HIS SISTER OLIVIA. SHE HAD BEEN MISSING SINCE OCTOBER OF 2017. THE 32-YEAR OLD MOTHER OF FIVE VANISHED FROM THE FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION IN NEW TOWN, NORTH DAKOTA. SHE WAS LAST SEEN DRIVING A PICKUP TRUCK. LONE BEAR SAYS AUTHORITIES WERE SLOW IN LAUNCHING THEIR SEARCH. MATT: YOU LOOK AT ALL THESE PEOPLE THAT WANTED TO STEP IN WITH BOATS THAT GOT SONAR AND THEY DIDN’T ALLOW THEM TO. LEONE: DESPITE HIS PLEAS, LONE BEAR SAYS IT TOOK MONTHS TO HAVE A BOAT SEARCH A NEARBY LAKE. BY THAT TIME, THE SEASONS HAD CHANGED. MATT: IF THEY WOULD HAVE SAID YES TO EVERY AGENCY THAT WANTED TO SEARCH THE WATER AND THEY WORKED WITH THE FAMILY, WE COULD HAVE GOT THAT WATER SEARCHED SIX TIMES ALREADY, BUT THEY WON’T -- DON’T WANT TO FOR SOME REASON. NOW WE SITTING HERE WITH A FROZEN LAKE AND WONDERING, LOOK AT ALL THIS EFFORT WE ARE THROWING IN TO FIND THIS TRUCK AND WHAT IF IT’S SITTING UNDER THE WATER THE WHOLE TIME. TRIBAL PD WILL HAVE TO ANSWER FOR THAT. LEONE: NINE MONTHS AFTER SHE DISAPPEARED, VOLUNTEERS USING SONAR SEARCHED THE SAME LAKE LAW ENFORCEMENT SEARCHED. THEY FOUND THE TRUCK WITH OLIVIA’S BODY INSIDE. MATT: WE WANT TO MAKE A PROTOCOL, THAT WILL HELP OTHER FAMILIES SO THEY DON’T HAVE TO JUMP THROUGH ALL THE HOOPS LIKE WE HAD TO DO AND GET RID OF SOME OF THE EXCUSES THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND OTHER AGENCIES HAVE. WE ARE TRYING TO ELIMINATE THOSE SO THAT WAY IF SOMEONE GOES , MISSING ON A RESERVATION, IT HAPPENS RIGHT AWAY. LAW ENFORCEMENT IS COHESIVE, WORKING TOGETHER. STATE RESOURCES CAN COME INTO THE RESERVATION RIGHT AWAY, NOT NINE MONTHS DOWN THE ROAD, RIGHT AWAY. LEONE: BACK ON THE PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA, LISA LONE HILL IS STILL WAITING FOR HER DAUGHTER LARISSA TO COME HOME. AND SO IS LARISSA’S THREE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. LISA: WHEN SHE SEES HER MOM’S PICTURE, SHE SAYS, IS SHE GOING TO BE GONE FOREVER? THE DETECTIVES SAY SHE IS NOT WITH US NO MORE. MAYBE THEY GAVE UP ON HER, BUT I DIDN’T AND I REFUSE TO BELIEVE SHE IS DEAD. SHE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTE

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Native American Women Are Disappearing. Why Is Nothing Being Done?

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Updated: 2:43 PM EST Dec 20, 2018

Native American women and girls are vanishing across the county. Just last year, the FBI reported 633 open missing persons cases for Native American women. According to statistics, they are also 10 times more likely to be murdered than non-Native Americans. The families of victims say their communities are outraged, but law enforcement isn’t taking action. Matter of Fact Correspondent Leone Lakhani tells some of their stories.

Native American women and girls are vanishing across the county. Just last year, the FBI reported 633 open missing persons cases for Native American women. According to statistics, they are also 10 times more likely to be murdered than non-Native Americans. The families of victims say their communities are outraged, but law enforcement isn’t taking action. Matter of Fact Correspondent Leone Lakhani tells some of their stories.